Eden Foods challenges insurance rule on religious grounds

Clinton-based Eden Foods Inc. and its founder, Michael Potter, are challenging a requirement of the new health care law that the company provide employee insurance coverage for contraception.

“This is a case about religious freedom,” is the first line in a complaint filed March 20 in United States District Court in Detroit by attorney Erin Mersino of the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor.

Judge Denise Page Hood dampened hopes for an order exempting the natural foods company from having to provide coverage for contraceptives. On March 22, Hood rejected a motion for an emergency injunction to comply with the new federal health insurance rule.

Hood’s order stated that courts have already ruled the regulation does not violate the free exercise of religion clause in the First Amendment of the constitution for private, for-profit corporations.

She stated a corporation must be considered a separate entity and “is not the alter ego of its owners for purposes of religious belief and exercise.” Courts have ruled owners of corporations are too far removed to have a substantial religious freedom interest in the insurance issue.

Hood denied an emergency injunction on Potter’s behalf, she stated, because he “has not carried his burden that he will likely succeed on the merits of his free exercise clause claim.”

The complaint states that the requirement to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs violates Potter’s “deeply held religious beliefs” as a Catholic.

Potter is the chairman, president and sole stockholder in Eden Foods, a business he founded in the late 1960s.

According to the complaint, Eden Foods has always provided health insurance to employees that excluded contraceptives and “lifestyle” drugs such as Viagra.

A federal requirement to begin providing such coverage came to Potter’s attention on Feb. 21 when Blue Cross/Blue Shield presented an amended contract. Potter refused to sign the contract. The changes were put into effect March 15 without the consent of Potter or Eden Foods.

“Plaintiffs wish to conduct their business in a manner that does not violate the principles of their religious faith,” Mersino stated in the complaint.

“Plaintiffs bring this action to vindicate not only their own rights, but also to protect the rights of all Americans who care about our constitutional guarantee of free exercise of religion,” she stated.

If Eden Foods is not granted a waiver, she stated, there is no feasible alternative except to withdraw from the insurance market.

A federal tax for providing health insurance without contraceptive coverage for Eden Foods’ 128 employees would be $4.67 million a year, Mersino stated. The fine for providing no insurance to its employees would be $196,000 a year.

A hearing on the motion by Potter and Eden Foods was scheduled for May 10 before Hood.

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